She grew up in Long Island, New York as a self-described "pretty normal kid." At age 18 she began working as a call girl. During this time she learned a great deal about sex (including the male anatomy, the intricacies of her own, fetishes, points of view, techniques, and turn ons that many different people had) so that "by the time I got into porn nothing was new or taboo or scary."

She entered the porn business at age 28; as she put it, "They weren't even doing half the things I did as an escort. I was like, what? I'm only getting half of what they [were earning]."

She has been called the "lady of the lake" of porn, in that she embodies the myth of the promiscuous woman willing to have sex with anyone at any time. Still, she dislikes dominating attitudes from men.

In 2005, Ava had what she called "malpractice surgery" which put a hold on her film career. In October 2005, she underwent breast reduction surgery and had a lift, reducing her bust to 36DD. She resumed working in January 2006 with plans to continue.